Unfamiliar Lines

Sunday, 4 December 2016

We were sitting at Almond’s, a restaurant frequented by the locals
in lakeside Pokhara, and feasting on spicy momos and soul-satisfying hot bowls
of thukpa. Looking down, the street lined with shops was abuzz with tourists
and travellers of all kind; the sights familiar from many places in India, yet there
was something distinctly different about it. It was our third day in Nepal, and
I was unable to place this difference in my mind.

Me: “I don’t think we look at Nepal as distinctly different from
India; more like an extension of our country.”

D: “Oh wow. That is the ultimate humiliation!”

D’s comment, however jokingly said, represents the changing attitude
and growing aspirations of the youth of Nepal. Decades of political instability,
insurgency, attempts at stabilizing democracy, lack of livelihood
opportunities, economic dependence on India and its resulting ‘big-brotherly’ arm-twisting
ways, and the recent earthquake coupled with almost a year-long trade embargo
by India - all have been instrumental in shaping and reshaping the country’s societal
outlook. Like India in the pre-90s and Uttarakhand in recent times, the youth
and able-bodied men are moving out of the country in search of better work and
life opportunities leaving behind villages with only older generation and
women. Kathmandu is now a sprawling city growing by leaps and bounds as people
continue to migrate here – some statistics say, almost a quarter of the country’s
population live in this city alone. It’s a story which is similar to the
burgeoning population in cities of India. The country is still struggling to
put basic infrastructure and amenities in place with rural Nepal bearing its
brunt, just as rural India continues to struggle even now. Similar traditions,
culture, attire, food, religious practices, a caste system which might not be
as complicated as in India, yet discriminating in nature, a multitude of ethnic
groups and languages – all point to notions of semblance with India.

Yet, as I travelled, observed and conversed with people there, I realized
the differences are not only numerous but stark and glaring. There’s a
particular strength and equanimity that I sensed in the people here, just like
that of the sublime mountains. Despite years of hardship and instability, the
people have found ways to grow and better their condition. Like the owner of
the shared jeep that we took from a village in the Annapurna region who mentioned
that when the government do not give any budget for roads, the villages will
still pool in and built kaccha roads. Like the youth groups, individuals etc.
who are helping rebuild villages in Gorkha which fell like pack of cards during
the earthquake. Unlike India where poverty is worn on the sleeves, there’s a
quiet dignity even in the poorest people here. Unlike India, where people are
overtly friendly, meddlesome and inquisitive, Nepalis are friendly yet reserved
giving you the space that you require. Unlike India, where societal violence
towards women is right on your face, it was liberating to travel around without
fear. Unlike India, where cleanliness if just an abstract notion and streets are
littered with garbage and plastic, Nepal seems to be largely a clean(er)
country. Beyond Kathmandu, the landscape
is exquisite – with heavily forested green slopes, blue-green free-flowing
rivers and villages with traditional architecture. A landscape and a way of
life that many mountain states of India have lost, forever. A landscape and a way of life that I so desperately
yearn for.

Nepal is at a stage where it can chose to go the India route; that
is, chose the western model of development and destroy everything natural. Or
it can build on its strengths and traditional knowledge and show the world an alternate
model of development with environment and people at its core. And I believe it can.

Lying on the overgrown grass in a park in Pokhara, lost amongst the
mountains, the blue autumn sky, the lazy drone of dragonflies, and with nobody
to disturb you, I realized what an amazingly beautiful country it was. On the
last day of our stay, a gloriously silent Diwali night, we walked all the way to
Patan Durbar Square through bylanes decorated with rangoli and diyas. Windows
of the old houses were lit up with these diyas where women stood and prayed in
the dim earthy light. The Durbar Square was surreal, with stunning architecture,
some fallen, some still standing, lit by mellow yellow lights and full of
people getting ready for a candle march. In that moment, surrounded by the
mountains and history and holding on tight to my friends P and G, I knew I was
truly and absolutely in love.

Saturday, 15 October 2016

The clock
chimed the half-hour past seven in the evening; it was a medieval sound, made
more so by the empty streets and a constant drizzle. The Rajabai Clock Tower in
the University Campus at Fort was lit up with a purple light; the building’s
gorgeous and ornate pillars, sculptures, motifs, arches, towers etc. sharply
visible even in the dim light. A group of night heritage walkers stood outside
the building huddled under their umbrellas listening to their guide. Beside
this, the Bombay High Court with its softly lit passageways looked pretty and romantic.
Well, nostalgically so.

I had
forgotten what a joy it is to walk and discover the Fort area of Mumbai,
especially at night. With empty roads and yellow lights, it’s easy to let time
rewind to a few centuries ago. In the daytime, it gets transformed into a totally
different world, buzzing with the energy, sights and sounds of today that are constantly
shifting. I believe that one can come here for 365 days a year, and can still
find something new each day.

Beyond the
obvious famous buildings, it’s a veritable treasure trove for people who have
any interest in architecture, history, or arts. The buildings are an amalgamation
of various styles - from Gothic, Victorian, Art-deco, and Indo-Saracenic, and with
Roman, French, Dutch, Mughal, other Indian influences. You just have to look at
the now dilapidated Esplanade House (right in front of Fabindia) made of cast
iron, the ornate motifs of the Standard Chartered Building, the medieval-castle-like
LIC building right next to it, the Parsi Agiaries, Knesset Eliyahoo Jewish Synagogue,
St. Thomas Cathedral, and the Asiatic Library to even get a sense of the
variety that can be found here. The happy mix of arches, spires, turrets,
steeples, the cast iron weather vanes, sculptures, wooden balconies, spiral
staircases, tree-lined streets, all probably brought forth the character that continues
to define Mumbai.

Food:

I have
always believed that it’s not the GDP that keeps our economy going, but food.
If you need evidence, well, a visit to this area is a must. There is food for
every taste and every pocket! From road side vendors selling breakfast items,
parsi bakeries with freshly baked bread and cookies, to swanky and elite restaurants,
all exist almost cheek by jowl along with numerous Khao Galis. Poha for Rs.20,
a plate of crunchy vadas and soft idlis for Rs.30, chicken sandwiches for
Rs.45, Pongal for Rs.70, Parsi chicken dhansak for Rs.150, muffins of Rs.15,
pizzas made on tawa for Rs.20, road-side chicken biryani for Rs.50 (which gets
over in one hour!), kheema pao for Rs.120, south Indian lunch thali for Rs.80,
berry pulao in Britannia for Rs.400, the baked yogurt at Food for Thought for
Rs.180, the list here is endless. If you are a food adventurer, you will love
to roam the streets and experiment with your stomach and taste buds here.

Cafes and Book Shops:

Forget the
GPS. The romance is in wandering the lanes and by-lanes and chancing upon cafes
and book stores tucked away between shops and buildings. Two of my favourite
bookshops are already here – Kitabkhana and Strand. The fairly new one Wayward
and Wise is a bookshop where you can browse for hours like that in the old days,
their range of books being fairly eclectic and different. There are also other
tiny bookstores which make you feel good that e-business hasn’t taken over all
small businesses yet. As for cafes, whether they are stand alone or part of a
bookstore, quaint or quirky, I’m terribly glad they exist despite Starbucks.
All of them perfect places to catch up with friends over a nice cup of tea or
coffee. Need I say more?

Shopping and People:

Once I saw a
man setting up some bottles in the corner of a lane. A few women quickly
gathered around him, some of them in burqa. He was selling itar. An hour later,
on my return I found him and his business gone. Another time I wanted to find
somebody who could repair my daypack. I asked a shop selling bags who gave me
precise directions to an old Bohri Muslim man called Hassan Bhai. Sometimes
there is a terrible flurry of activities, vendors rushing to wrap up their
businesses before the police arrived. In one hour’s time and with the police
gone, it’s all back to normal business once again. Like food, one can find
almost everything here. Fruits, grocery, mops, photo developers, printers,
coffee grinders, gifts papers, raw and boiled eggs, cobblers, vendors selling
shirts and belts, coconut water, tea stalls, watches, pen drives, mobile
phones, mobile phone covers, saree, soaps, masala. Despite competition, there’s
a place for everybody and everybody looks out for everybody else. It does not
matter if you are a Parsi, Jew, Muslim, Christian or Hindu. That’s how and why
this ecosystem continues to thrive, and not just survive.

In the many
tiny park, corners, and main roads, one can find life size statues of erstwhile
Bombayites. Many of the names are new to me, but whenever I pass one such
statue, I do look up and say a silent thank you. For making Mumbai, the amazing
city it still is today.

Sunday, 21 August 2016

A google search on companies/polluters in India fined for polluting
will throw up just a handful of results which does not even cover the first
page. This can probably give you an indication of how dismal the state of our
environmental safeguards and justice is in. Most of our environmental laws and
policies including those related to wildlife were constituted on strong
principles way back in the 70s, 80s and 90s (even though some provisions
allowed conservation and management of forests to move away from communities to
the Forest Department like that in the British Era). The Indian Judiciary,
especially the apex court, in the past has upheld many of these laws, made
relevant changes, and forced government departments to act in their judgements;
however some of the orders which went against the environment, basic principles
of law and people have managed to do a lot more damage than the goods done by other
orders. Some orders, which were meant to maintain a balance, managed to create
that ‘loophole’ which has been fully utilized by corporations/governments to
further destroy forests and eco-systems and alienate communities.

Even then, there was hope because we had the laws.

In the past two years, the current government has systematically
gone about changing/adding/deleting/rewording the various
acts/rules/notifications and even particular clauses to create loopholes,
ambiguity, and opportunities for misinterpretations. New bills and draft
policies have been outlined (some carried forward from the previous government)
with such alacrity that it’s difficult to stay updated. (Atleast you get to
know that the government mechanisms can be fast and efficient if it chose to
be). But the best part of these new bills, policies, alterations etc. is that
they are so beautifully worded that lay people like me would almost swoon
because of the department’s ‘concerns’ about the environment and climate
change. It requires a slow detailed reading to understand that once you string
these changes together, collectively, they are leading to India’s biggest
environmental scam.

Some examples: from notices I have read; there could be more which I
might have missed.

Draft Wetland Conservation
and Management Rules – 2016: The detailed
definitions/categorisation of what constitutes wetlands and the list of
activities that should not be allowed around them have either been removed or made
limited in scope. The states have been given the power to define what may
constitute as Wetlands according to their process of identification. This draft
Rules completely waters down the objective of conservation and preservation and
puts more emphasis on the principle of 'wise use' of Wetlands (no definition
given), its conservation, ‘regulation and management’, ‘integrated management
of land, water and natural resources’ which converges with existing state
development plans that 'promotes conservation and sustainable use in an
equitable way'. There is no mention of Environment Impact Assessments (EIAs),
monitoring of implementation, or process of appeal to a court (NGT) in case of
violations. There is no mention of what should be strictly prohibited; instead
it opens up the Wetlands to opportunities for various ‘wise uses’.

Draft Environment Laws
(Amendment) Bill - 2015: This amendment deals with
penalties for damage to environment – which here has been limited to air, water
and gaseous pollution only. Though the Bill increased the fine for polluting
from a mere Rs.1 lakh to upto Rs.20 crores, it has created ambiguity by
defining pollution vaguely as ‘minor violations’, ‘substantial damage’, and
‘non-substantial damage’ and capping fines accordingly. What happens when the
environmental damage is irreparable like a nuclear disaster or another Bhopal
gas tragedy? These provisions allow for corporations to pollute, pay and get
away with it. Instead of overhauling a decaying or an already dead system of
pollution control, the Bill merely focuses on penalties for pollution with no
provisions for preventing future damage. The biggest issue in this Bill however
is creation of another vague Adjucating Authority which will bypass NGT thus
reducing its power over such matters.

Draft Environmental Impact
Assessment Notification - 2016: This is one of the
most hilarious drafts. As well as one of the most damaging. Hilarious because
it copied
word for word from a US environmental policy. Damaging because it attempts
to legalise violations made by corporations on environmental clearances. Currently,
EIAs are the only environmental check which allows for taking crucial and sound
environmental decisions on ‘development’ and any environmental clearance
violation is regarded as a criminal offence. However, this Notification allows
a violator to continue with the business if they agree to pay a sum of money as
compensation for the damage already done, and also implement an Environmental
Supplement Plan to restore the environment. This notification goes against all
basic principles (precautionary principal and polluters pay) of environmental
laws across the globe and will allow corporates to violate, pay and operate.

Compensatory Afforestation
Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) & Compensatory Afforestation
Fund (CAF) Act – 2016: This is where the laws
become deadly. This is also an example of how a supposedly good judgement
created a loophole which can go down in history as one of the deadliest for
India’s environment. In order to deter parties (user agencies) from cutting
down forests, the apex court asked the government to create a central fund, put a
value to our forests and use the money collected for compulsory afforestation.
The government (previous) helpfully put such a low value to our forests, that
most of us can easily afford to buy a hectare or two. The idea of preserving
green cover by first chopping down trees and then afforesting them itself is
bizarre. If one needs to conserve natural, virgin forests, why cut them down in
the first place? The Bill drafted by the current government allows for private
parties to pitch for tenders for afforestation projects. Though the Act
mentions afforestation includes regeneration of degraded forests and
conservation of natural ones, it also mentions afforestation using plantation
for timber. This Act has absolutely no mention of tribals and other forest
dwellers, protection of their rights over their land and/or their involvement
in the conservation process. Given the history, one can easily see how this Act
will unfold - private parties grabbing land, forcing eviction of tribals from
their land, planting single species of trees which will further destroy
eco-systems and wildlife, and making profit by again cutting down these trees
and selling them for timber.

Draft National Forest
Policy – 2016: The MoEF had invited comments from
public on this. But it took me one whole day of extensive search to find this draft hidden in one corner of the MoEF’s website rather than its home page. That in
itself tells a tale. Because of a furore in media and elsewhere, the draft
policy was quickly removed and a notice sent out that it was not ‘the’ draft
policy and was put up on the site by mistake. Beautifully worded, the draft
policy (in other words forest governance strategy) aims to give back all
control of forest land to the Forest Department and divert forest land for
plantation (forest industry) purposes again through a PPP model as mentioned in
CAMPA. The interesting part of this ‘policy’ is that in all of its 40 pages, again
there is not a SINGLE mention of tribals and other forest dwellers. As if these
indigenous communities don’t exist in India.

String all these together and you can see a pattern emerging –
instead of putting actual efforts in protection and conservation of nature, the
laws are being twisted to help grab/use more of our limited natural resources
for business, making it easier for polluters and violators to continue,
transform natural forests and other eco-systems into plantations, and not even
acknowledge the existence of communities whose lives depend on forests and
natural resources, so that they don’t get a chance to demand their rights.

If these changes are accepted, we are all set for not only an
environmental crisis but also a human rights crisis as well.

********************************************************************************PS: Two more laws have come up for revision as I write this – Wildlife
Protection Act and Indian Forest Act. This might mean that even the Forest
Conservation Act will be reviewed soon.

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

There was no road going from Korzok towards Leh, back in 2002. We
bumped along the plains in a jeep for miles. The Changthang region, stretching
to Tibet, was home to the nomadic Changpa tribe who reared Pashmina goats and
supplied its wool to Kashmir. They lived in tents and along the way, in one
such tent, we had stopped for some hot butter tea. The space for cooking was
right in the middle of the tent, with an opening which was used by the chimney
to direct the smoke out. Everything else revolved around this space.

Subsequent travels to Ladakh revealed the importance of the kitchen
in a home. Larger than most rooms and also the most adorned, this is a space for
cooking and entertaining people over unending cups of butter tea poured from
bottomless flasks, khambir and tsampa with sour curd. The low tables
are strictly not meant for sitting, for which one can use the mattresses kept
on the floor around the wall. In some homes, the fire at the centre of the
kitchen still burns; in most others, the cooking gas stoves are taking over the
corner spaces. Like men in the North-East, I have seen Ladakhi men helping out
in the kitchen. The kitchens in Nagaland houses are also big, if not as big as
the Ladakhi ones. Here, everything happen around the fireplace where the fire
burns throughout the day - warming water, making tea, cooking food, skinning
chicken or ducks, eating, friendly chats with neighbours etc. The smoke from the
fire dries the meat hung above it and also lends a flavor to it.

traditional kitchen in a village in Nagaland

In our childhood homes, the central aangan was the space where most activities took place; but for me,
it was the kitchen area which was always filled with laughter, gossip, stories,
wonderful smells, and always something to eat. We would run around in the mohalla and into anybody’s home heading
straight to the kitchen where some kakima
or chachi would hand out home-made namkeens or mithais. Before cooking gas came to our town, we used to prepare
food on chulhas or kerosene stoves.
The process of preparing the chulha every
morning was elaborate and so was the process of dowsing the fire after cooking.
Each day, after dowsing the fire and removing the half burnt coal pieces, the chulha was given a wipe with a thin
layer of wet mud. The smell that arose from that still warm chulha was divine. Children were
strictly forbidden to go anywhere near the stove or chulha, as accidents occurred often. Like the time when our nanny’s
sari had caught fire. It was because of my quick thinking friend who poured a
bucket of water over her, that she escaped with some minor burns.

Most kitchens in rural homes that I have visited across states are
clean, organized and dark making it a cozy, mysterious place – for me. The
shafts of light that filter in through the roof or wall, add to the charm
especially when the shafts of light get patterned with the smoke arising from
the stove or are speckled with golden-white dust. In the plains, it’s the women
who work in the kitchen, methodically and efficiently. Men come in only to eat.
Here kitchens are smaller than other rooms and situated in one corner or
outside of the house, from where women have to trudge constantly with tea,
water, food etc. for the rest of the household. Modern houses seem to follow
this pattern with smaller corner kitchens disconnected from the rest.

Food and its spaces in a home bind people like in the mountain communities;
and perhaps that’s why we, in the plains, now constantly struggle with our
relationships, both inside the house and out.

Thursday, 14 April 2016

At the small town of Tapovan, a few kilometers ahead of Joshimat, we
stopped to buy some eggs. We were on our way to see the hot-springs at a bend
in the road. There was a mesh build around the hot-spring, but people had
broken it off long ago to go and place packets of rice and eggs to cook. One of
the persons accompanying me even mentioned biryani in cookers. Scalding hot
water was bubbling out constantly while the area overflowed with Sulphur and
other minerals rich soil. The water was channeled downhill to a few bathing rooms
if people wanted to take a dip. The once pristine area now lay desecrated with
most trees that lined the slopes cut down and constructions for a dam in
progress. The hot-springs stuck out like a sore thumb in that surrounding.

In the distance was the village of Reni, the place from where the
Chipko movement had started. Parts of the hills behind it lay barren just like
most hill ranges across Garhwal. Deforestation, which is sweeping Garhwal like
a scourge has reached even there. Oh, the terrible irony. I sat at the side of
the road looking at the broken egg-shells strewn all over wondering if I could
find some last remaining vestiges of hope buried somewhere in my heart.

Something is terribly amiss in this region. It would be extremely
easy for me to put the blame on government policies and its corrupt ways of
handling everything. But the malaise to me seems to run deep. Ofcourse, the
largest part of the problem comes from unplanned and unsustainable urbanization
that the state government is hell-bent on following. Corruption in the state’s
Forest Corporation, the arm which deals in the commerce part of forests/ forest
produces, has ensured that trees are cut down indiscriminately. As explained by
Suresh Bhai, an activist, post Chipko movement tree-felling for commercial use was
banned in the mountainous region. But in 1994, the ban was lifted for dead pine
trees. The Forest Corporation needed just this excuse to start cutting down all
types of green trees. Even now I saw green pines marked for cutting in many
areas. The Corporation which sells pine gum worth Rs.50 plus crore annually,
uses this trick to cut down pine trees because once the gum is taken out, the
trees slowly die. Localised environmental movements have helped identify
corrupt officials who have been sent to jail, but the corruption is so huge
that it continues unabated in other parts. Now add to this developmental
activities which started after the formation of the new state in 2000 –
urbanization, roads, dams etc.

Gopeshwar with barren hills

A
recent proposal sent by the state government to MoEF (&CC) seeks
permission to cut down all pine trees. The arguments given are that pine
trees are exotic and not local flora, its leaves burn easily in summer setting
fires to forests and that it is taking over local varieties of forest patches.
The state government wants to plant local broad-leaf trees in its place. Now,
the arguments against pines are correct to an extent, but the proposal reeks of
a different motive. If MoEF gives a nod to this (which the current MoEF is
likely to give), it will lead to unchecked felling of all trees and not just
pine. If the state government was so serious about planting broad-leaf trees,
it could have well started with all the deforested lands first.

But what I find unsettling is the change in attitude of the
communities from the time of the Chipko Movement. People complain of harsh
winds and water scarcity but somehow fail to mention the barren hills. The one
constant question I have asked everybody is why there are no trees and I have
mostly got cagey answers. Some have pointed uninterestedly to patches of pines
saying there are enough forests. Somehow I ended up getting the feeling that
people’s priorities have changed a lot. They know that they are connected with
nature but that sense of ownership is not there. Now it’s a grudging reality
which somehow has to be ‘suffered’. The lure of the plains and money is too
strong. I have travelled to all the mountain states in India but I have not
come across this attitude in other communities till now. The NGOs are very much
aware of the issue but are defensive of the fact that people are not interested
or sometimes aid the forest officials in felling trees. The situation is like
that of an elephant in a room – everybody knows of its presence but nobody
acknowledges.

Add to all this the increasing influence of climate change, which has
hastened in the last few years (as per people’s perception) – receding glacier,
lesser and lesser snowfall, less or no winter rain, increasing temperature, erratic
rainfall, winter fog, soil erosion, water scarcity, movement of tree and plant
species to higher altitude, pest attacks, unseasonal flowering of trees etc. –
and you have a full-fledged recipe for a prolonged disaster waiting to unfold.

What a waste of the efforts of the women behind the Chipko Movement.
And what an insult the region has become to their sentiments.

*******************************************************************

Sign the petition for an alternate development policies for the Himalayan regionshttps://www.greenpeacex.in/petitions/urgent-need-to-protect-the-himalayan-region-and-it-s-communities?bucket=Jan27Mail

Saturday, 20 February 2016

“It was so strange: this mix of tribal identity and Christianity
which is a little on your face. Even largely Christian countries, including
ours, is not……so Christian.”

It was early morning in Nongriat, Meghalaya, and a few backpackers,
including me, were sitting in Byron’s verandah waiting for the sun to peek from
the hills and him to serve us his amazing porridge breakfast. The topic of
conversation, as in most backpacking gatherings, had turned again to travel
experiences (and thankfully not to Game of Thrones!). While all the travelers
dispersed after the sumptuous breakfast, I stayed on at the homestay nursing a
sudden bout of back pain and weak knees and thinking of what the Australian
couple had said about Nagaland. It had piqued more than my curiosity, it set
the tone of my travel onwards to Nagaland.

I spent Christmas with M’s family in the pretty village of Mima
attending Christmas Mass in the village’s Baptist Church filled with people
dressed in the best of their attires – both western and oh-so-pretty
traditional ones with distinctive Angami colours and patterns – and followed by
a delicious community feast of rice and pork and some more pork. Moving out
from the ‘city’ of Kohima and traveling further north and south, the
contradictions that the Australian couple had talked about, became more
apparent. Most parts of Nagaland are now highly westernized, both in lifestyle
and attire, perhaps a little less in local and clan traditions and customs.
Unlike Arunachal Pradesh where tribal culture, lifestyle, attire and traditional
homes, are still very much prevalent, in Nagaland one gets just glimpses of a culturally
rich past mostly during religious and social occasions. H, who works on tourism
and community development, said with a bit of regret that Christianity has erased
most of the tribal lifestyle and culture as it’s now considered a taboo. His
grandparents are the last generation of ‘Pagans’ or people who followed the old
ways of animistic living.

Christmas at Mima, near Kohima

As my friend J explained, Christianity came to Nagaland after the
British almost 150 years ago. The Baptists have been there since the beginning
while Catholics and Revivals came much later. Unlike the European ones, the
American missionaries did not accept any of the tribal culture, considering
anything to do with animism, a taboo. From head-hunting and tribal warfare
days, people have come a long way in terms of modernization, largely due the
influence of these missionaries. As N in Khonoma pointed out, the last few
regions who live the ‘Pagan’ lifestyle (mostly eastern Nagaland) are still
largely poor. With visible improvement in lifestyle and economic advantages
arising out of mainstreaming, generations have consciously let go their tribal
past, even refusing to talk about it. H, who has experienced such a transition
since his childhood, said that earlier hygiene and sanitation practices were
abysmal and it was especially bad with pigs, chickens, mithuns and people all
roaming around the village freely, reminding me of the conditions still prevalent
in many villages across India. Akole from North East Networks (Chizami), who
was wearing a traditional mekhala
when I met her, felt that it was easy for people to adopt Christianity as there
were a lot of similarities with the Pagan belief systems.

High heels in a village - western with the traditional

It is however the youth – the fourth or fifth generation Christians –
who are beginning to question their socio-cultural identity just like they are
doing with their political identity. Fashion conscious and so effortlessly
stylish that they can easily put our metro fashionistas to shame, the youth are
looking at different ways to resolve their ‘crossroads’ moment. A section of youth
want to reaffirm their identity by going back to their roots, by understanding
their ancestral history and keeping their heritage alive. AVT, a TISS Mumbai
graduate, who met us in Kohima, took us down narrow bylanes past old houses to
a decrepit place which served the local rice drink Dzutho. Any form of alcohol
is officially banned in the state including the local rice drink. Sipping the
rice beer and watching the sun go down across the valley, AVT enthusiastically
talked about tribal practices and customs he knew of and showed us burial
practices that existed before. He rued the fact that there were too many
western influences in the society now. C, who took me to the forests around
Khonoma on New Year’s day, said that the youth want to know more about their
roots but parents are not really interested in telling as it’s against their
religion to talk about taboos. He felt that his generation is the last who can
do something to retain their rich heritage, after which everything will be lost
forever. L, who took me around the fields of Khonoma and narrated all the
stories/folktales related to the village’s history and monoliths scattered around,
is passionate about his village’s past and want to write down all the folklores
and stories of his village.

The other section of youth is going back to religion in order to
forge and strengthen their identity. Like my friend K, they feel that it is
religion which has helped them through decades of conflict and improve their
lives. It is also finding oneself and others through religion that will help
them resolve future issues and bring them together as a strong Naga community.

A Totem put up by an ex-hunter at Khonoma

Walking around the forests and the fields of Khonoma, I could not
shake the feeling of being watched by ‘somebody’ amongst the gnarled alder
trees, the sudden shriek of a bird, secluded ponds, and the mellow sun
filtering through the trees – making me want to believe all the nature spirit
stories that I heard there. It was magical. Perhaps it is a bit of this magic, faith
in Christianity and the inherent strength of the people who have held on
despite odds stacked against them that has made Nagaland a beautiful and
distinctive place like no other.

Sunday, 17 January 2016

J: You will reach Kohima at around two in the morning. Don’t worry,
its safe here. There are Army guys everywhere.

Me: Are you mad? I am not going anywhere near the Army.

J: You are an upper class Brahmin and you don’t look like a Naga, so
they dare not touch you.

Me: I am not ‘upper class Brahmin’.

J: Oh. Then God help you.

The conversation with J, my friend who is studying Peace and
Conflict, bordered on being a joke, yet somewhere it wasn’t. The media with its
sporadic reports on ‘insurgency’ in the state, has successfully managed to
create an image of an unsafe volatile state with people up in arms against the
Army. Travelers who visit the state do so mostly during the Hornbill Festival,
which quite many Nagas would agree, is just a performance put up to boost
tourism. The loss however is ours, the rest of India, for not making efforts to
go beyond the Hornbill Festival and media reports to understand these resilient
and amazing hill people who have throughout generations experienced so much,
yet come so far in their collective journey.

My arrival in Kohima at 2am was not as dramatic as J had joked. He
along with his friend M were there to pick me up at Learie Point, a CRPF Camp
area but with no army personnel around at that time. On the eve of Christmas, when
we were exploring the town, eat Naga food and understand a bit of its history,
a usually unruffled J suddenly spat out, “Its one of the most disgusting line I
have ever read anywhere”. Written on the wall in huge letters was the Indian
Army’s tagline for Nagaland – Friends of the Hill People.

Nagaland, it might seem, have always been a ‘conflict’ zone. The
tribes, before adopting Christianity, practiced head-hunting as each
village/clan functioned as an autonomous unit and therefore the need to guard
against its ‘enemies’ and/or forge friendship treaties with other villages.
Then came the invasion of Japan into their territory in 1943. Just as they were
picking up pieces of their lives, the Indian Army moved in after India’s
independence to quell the movement for Naga independence or ‘insurgency’. The
Indian Army ended up committing more atrocities on Naga people than even the
Japanese who were known for their horrific war crimes. Some of these stories
though reported in mainline dailies were lost in the inside pages. More than fifty
years of Army presence and a deeply corrupt state government has led to issues
or crimes which were unheard of in the state once – drugs, HIV, rapes,
migration. Perhaps it’s the strength of the Naga women, who like other women in
conflict zones, bore the brunt of it, the resilience of the village structures,
and/or their faith in Christianity that have helped the Nagas overlook all this
and continue with normal life.

“They are all chasing after the wind.” C, my guide in Khonoma for
the day, replied to my queries on the Nationalist Movement. C studied in Kohima
and was home for the holidays. While the entire village was engaged in church
work on the 1st of Jan, C agreed to take me to the adjoining forest
because he thought churches are ‘just man-made structures’.

“What freedom are they talking about? We are free, we have our Naga
identity and we have a state to our own. What they want is not politically feasible
now. And we are Nagas; once we get our ‘freedom’, we will start bickering and
fighting with each other again”, C continued, stating largely what the current
generation felt about the ‘Nationalist’ movement. They wanted to move on,
forget the past and build a better future for themselves in Nagaland.

The Nationalist Movement had started with the idea of a larger Naga
identity – a free country for all Naga tribes, including those living in Burma (Myanmar)
and parts of Manipur. The movement like many others, now seem to have lost its
key focus, spilt into sub-groups on tribe/clan lines and now perceived mostly
as extortionists who do not want the state or its people to progress. There
have been incidences of them killing their own members who had tried to find a
common ground for all and/or advocate a different path.

On the way to Pfutsero, relatively better roads than anywhere in Nagaland

CY, another student from Wokha who has a keen interest in the
movement’s history, said that it’s difficult to support any of the groups
because all of them are just as corrupt as the government. The sense of
restlessness seemed strong in the youth who wants to do so much but are not
able to do so, not even voice their opinions openly. They want to leave their
past behind and forge a new identity in the future. For the older generation
who once strongly believed in the ideology, suffered the impact of the conflict
and faced so much hardships over decades, their identity is deeply tied with
the past. They are unable to forget and simply let go.

Socio-politically, Nagaland is in a state of flux where the problems
are not as simple as stated above but layered with complexities. In its heart
lies the quest for an identity, the definition of which have been shifting and
evolving over the years. As my friend K, who is deeply involved in church and
community work said, perhaps the first step is not to forget but forgive.

Between the Indian government, the Army, the state government, the
nationalist movement, the ideologies of the older and younger generation and Christianity
and tribal roots, the past continues to weigh heavily while the future is
itching to unfold.

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“Remember, upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.” – Alexander the Great.
Restlessness led me from the world of brands and advertising to the development sector. The journey has been enriching, to say the least. I love nature and wildlife to the point of being obsessive. But I have my views and opinions about everything else too. And this is a glimpse of our world as I see it. If even one person is affected by what I write and decide to make a change, then I feel I have succeeded.
If you wish to share your views and experiences with me directly, you may write at bipasha.m16@gmail.com